Recoiler for metal strips



f TA.1J. R. GRER 2,257,743 Q 4 RBCOILER FOR METAL- STRIPS Filed Sept.16,- 1938 s Sheets-Sheet 1 (11%; JIwr Grim/1144 4.

Oct. 7, 1941. A. J. R. GREER RECOILER FOR METAL STRIPS Filed Sept. 16,ess 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Oct. 7, 1941. GREER 2,257,743

RECOILER FOR METAL STRIPS Filed Sept. 16, 1938 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Oct. 7,1941- A. J. R; GREER RECOILER FOR METAL STRIPS Filed Sept. 16, 1938 5Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Oct. 7, 1 941 UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICERECOILER FOR METAL STRIPS Agnes J. Reeves Greer, Morgantown, W. Va.

Application September 16, 1938, Serial No. 230,304

6 Claims.

The invention relates to apparatus used in the pickling of coils ofstrip metal and more particularly to certain improvements upon therecoiling mechanism for preparing the coils for pickling in apparatussuch as shown in my prior Patent No. 2,091,921, issued August 31, 1937,and Shoemaker Patent No. 2,120,843, issued June 14, 1938.

Pickling apparatus of the general character disclosed in the patentsmentioned comprise .means for supporting the coils of metal strip uponmandrels which are rotated as they are progressed through the picklingand washing tanks whereby the coils are rotated upon the mandrels asthey pass through the pickling and washing solutions.

Before the coils are entered into such a pickling machine it isnecessary that the laminae of the coil be sufliciently separated so thatno portion thereof will touch any other portion of the strip while inthe pickling solution, in order to prevent the formation of black spotsor marks on the pickled material.

The Shoemaker patent above referred to discloses a back spinnerinterposed between the recoiler and the pickling tank for the purpose ofopening up the laminae of each coil after it has been loosely coiledupon the recoller.

While this back spinner has been found in actual practice to operatesatisfactorily, it considerably slows up the pickling operation since itis necessary that each coil be first loosely recoiled upon therecoilerand then transferred to the back spinner where it is back spununtil all of the laminae of the coil are sufliciently separated toinsure satisfactory pickling of the metal. H a A The present inventioncontemplates the provision of a novel recoller, which recoils the stripand then back spins the coil to the desired extent all ma singlecontinuous operation, thus, eliminating the back spinner disclosed inthe Shoemaker patent, thereby cutting down the cost of the picklingapparatus as well as the space required to house the same, andconsiderably speeding up the operation of the machine.

An object of the present invention is to provide a recoiler-which willoperate to coil a strip -of sheet steel or the like, so constructed thatwhen the coil is formed the recoller may be operated in reversedirection to back spin the coil so as to separate the laminae thereoffrom one another,

Another object of the invention is to provide new for t di e the striponto the rotatable drum of the recoiler and for automatically A furtherobject is to provide means for holding the outer endof the coil againstmovement as the drum is rotated in reverse direction to back spin thecoil.

A still further object is to provide means for quicklyand easilyremoving the coil from the drum of the recoller after the back spinning10 operation.

Still another object is to provide means for straightening the strip asit is fed to the recoller.

A further object is to provide means for holding the strip under tensionas it is fed .onto the recoller.

Another object is to provide means for conveying the coil from therecoller to the charging mechanism by means of which the coil is chargedinto the pickling machine.

The above objects together with others which will be apparent from thedrawings and following description or which may be later referred to maybe'attained by constructing the improved recoller in the mannerillustrated in the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a topplan view of a recoller embodying the invention;

Fig. 2, a vertical sectional view-taken as on the line 2-2, Fig. 1;

Fig. 3, a fragmentary section taken on the line 3-4, Fig. 2, showing thebrake mechanism for the drum of the'recoiler;

Fig. 4, a sectional end elevation of the recoller showing the. manner inwhich a strip is fed to the drum of the recoller and automaticallyclamped thereon; I

Fig. 5, a fragmentary end elevation of the recoili' showing the cbilformed thereon; Fig. 6, a view similar to Fig. 5 showing the coil 40after the back spinning operation;

Fig. '7, a side elevation showing the mechanism -fer conveying the coilsfrom the recoller to the charging mechanism of the pickling machine; and

Fig. 8, a perspective view of one of the sections of the drum.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.

The strip indicated generally at I. is fed to 50 the recoller by meansof apparatus such as shown in Figs. 1. and 4 and carried within ahousing II. This feeding mechanism may include a roller l2 journaled inthe housing II and guiding the strip between the vertical edge rolls l3.

Located bey n h ge o ls "is a pair or clamping the leading end of thestrip to the drum.

pinch rolls l4 geared together as by the gearing l5 and driven through areduction gear l6 as by the motor I 6' to feed the strip forward to therecoiler,

Beyond the pinch rolls I4 is located a braking device for putting atension on the strip III. This apparatus may comprise a pair of rolls l1Journaled in segmental brackets l8, which are concentrically journaledas at i9 within the housing One of the brackets l8 may be providedaround its peripheral edge with gear teeth 20 meshing with the pinion 2|flxed upon a shaft 22, which is journaled through one'side of thehousing H and has fixed to its outer end a gear wheel 23.

A hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder 24 is provided with a plunger in theform of a rack bar 25 meshing with the gear 23 whereby operation of thecylinder will, through the gearing above described, rock the brackets i8and with them tlsie rolls .l1 around the centers of the journals Thelower pinch roll I4may be mounted in a vertically adjustable bearing 26adapted to be urged upward toward the upper roll as by the spring 21interposed between the slidable bearing 26 and the movable head 28 whichis adapted to rest upon the stop screw 29 and is connected as by the pin39 with the arm 3| of a bell crank lever fulcrumed as at 32 within thehousing, the

arm 33 of said bell crank lever being pivotally connected as at 34 tothe plunger 35 of the fluid cylinder 36 by means of which the tensionupon the spring 21 may be increased.

Located beyond the brake rolls I1 within the housing is a set of levelrolls including the two lower rolls 31 which may be journaled in fixedbearings and the upper roll 38 journaled in vertically slidable bearings39 adapted to be vertically adjusted as by the screws 49 having dovetailheads 4! engaged within the dove-tail groove 42 in the bearings 39. v

A spiral gear 43 is flxed upon each screw shaft and meshes with thecorresponding spiral pinion 44 upon the adjusting shaft 45, a hand wheel46 being fixed upon the shaft for manually adjusting the upper roll 38toward or from the lower rolls 31.

The recoiling and back spinning drum and associated parts are mountedupon a base 4'1 located beyond the housing I l, a standard 48 beingsupported upon said .base and having the single bearing 49 mountedthereon.

The shaft 50 of the recoiler drum is journaled through said bearing andis adapted to be driven, in either direction, by any suitable motor orprime mover (not shown). I

A bearing portion 5i is journaled upon the shaft 58 and may be providedwith a depending flange 52 rigidly connected to the standard 48 by thebolts 53 so that the bearing 5| and parts carried thereby will remainstationary as; the shaft rotates in either direction.

The bearing 5| is provided with an annular housing portion 54 from whichradiate several spokes 55, to the outer portions of which is connected asubstantially semi-cylindric guard plate A plurality of spaced cams 51is fixed upon the shaft 58 as by the keys 58 and interposed between saidcams is a plurality of annular sec tions 59 loosely journaled upon theshaft 50 and tied together by a plurality of longitudinally disposedtie-bolts 60.

The peripheral portions of the sections 59 exing end of the strip l8therebetween when the drum is rotated in the direction of the arrowshown in Fig. 4.

llhe inner face of each latch member 62 is provided with a longitudinalconcavity 64 adapted to be engaged by the cam lug 65 upon the cor-'responding cam 51.

A pair of pivoted guiding arms 66 and 61 is carried upon the housings IIand extend above and below the strip ill to a point adjacent thecircumference of the drum of the recoiler.

The lower arm 61 may be of a width substantially equal to the length ofthe drum while the upper arm 66, as best shown in Figure 1, may,preferably, be considerably narrower so as not to interfere with thecylindric shield 56.

The arms 66 and 61 are fixed upon shafts 68 and 69, respectively,journaled in suitable bearing blocks 10 mounted upon the housings II andpinions 1| and 12 are fixed upon the ends of shafts 68 and 69,respectively, and meshed with each other whereby the arms may be swungtoward or from each other in unison so that the rollers 66a and 61a mayrest upon the coil.

For the purpose of controlling the movementand position of the arms, afluid cylinder 13 may be provided. This cylinder may have its lower orinner end pivotally connected as at 14 to a bracket 15 mounted betweenthe housings H, the plunger 16 and cylinder being pivotally connected asat 11 to the lower arm 61.

For the purpose of placing tension upon the drum, when desired, brakemechanism is provided comprising a brake drum 18 formed at the inner endportion of the drum upon the innermost section 59, a brake band 19surrounding said brake drum, one end ofthe brake band being connected toone of the bolts 53 while the other end is connected through a tensionspring 89 to the rod 8|, which is pivotally connected at its lower endas at 82 to one end of a lever 83 fulcrumed intermediate its ends as at84 upon a bracket 85, the other end of the lever being pivotallyconnected as at 86 to the plunger 81 of a fluid operated cylinder 89.

A platform is provided for receiving the coil from the drum of therecoiler, and may be in the form of a tilting cradle\89, having the de-Pending arms 90 pivoted as at 9| upon the sliding platform 92provided-with the horizontal flanges 93 slidable within the guideways 94formed in the base 95.

A fluid cylinder 96 may be mounted at the forward end of said base andprovided with a Plunger 91 connected to the sliding platform 92.

An inclined fluid cylinder 98 may be mounted as upon the bracket 99 atone side. of the base and at a point beyond-the drum, the plunger I 08of said cylinder being provided at its upper end with'a roller lni.adapted to engage the I03 to guide the coil downward upon the platformand onto the stop I04, which is pivoted intermediate its ends as at I05to the frame I06 and provided with the depending rocker arm I01, whichmay be pivotally connected, as at I08, to the plunger I09 to the fluidcylinder H or other mechanism for swinging said rocker arm upon thepivot I05.

In order to compensate for the oscillating movement of the rocker armI01, the cylinder I I0 may be journaled as at III in brackets II2mounted upon the supporting frame I I3.

The coil loading mechanism includes the inclined rails H4, at whichpoint a mandrel II5 may be inserted into each coil, the mandrel beingsupported upon the rails I I4 and in turn supporting the coil thereon,as illustrated and described in detail in the prior patents abovereferred to.

In order to facilitate the insertion of the mandrel Within the coil, aportion of one of the inclined rails II4 may be hinged as indicated at4a and adapted to be swung outward upon the hinge I I4b, providingsufficient clearance to place the mandrel in position through the coil,as disclosed in said Shoemaker Patent No. 2,120,843.

The loading or charging mechanism includes a rocker shaft II6 journaledin suitable bearings I I! mounted upon the foundation of the machine andprovided with the charging arms II8 having the forked outer ends II9,any suitable means being provided for oscillating the shaft IIG asdisclosed in detail in the prior patents above mentioned.

Stop levers I may be fulcrumed intermediate their ends as at I2I uponthe inclined rails H4 and provided with upwardly disposed stop lugs I22adapted to be normally held in the path of the mandrel II5 as by a coilspring I23 so as to hold the mandrel with the coil supported thereon atthis point until the charging arms II8 are moved to the loading positionshown in Fig. 7 when the forward ends of the levers I20 are depressed bythe charging arms is indicated in said figure, moving the stop lugs I22below the top edges of the inclined rails I I4.

In the operation of the machine, to coil a strip of sheet steel or thelike, the cylinded 24 is operated in a direction to cause the rack barplunger 25 thereof to rotate shaft 22 clockwise so as to swing thesegmental rack brackets I8 in a counterclockwise direction so that thebraking rollers II carried thereby will be spaced above and below thepath of the incoming strip.

The cylinder 36 is operated to move the lower movable feed roller I4upward into operative position relative to the upper roller I4. The handwheel 46 is operated toproperly position the upper movable levelingroller relative to the lower leveling rollers 31, the cylinder I3 isoperated tomove the guiding arms 66 and 61 substantially to the positionshown in Fig. 4, and the cylinder 88 is operated to apply the brake bandI9 around the brake drum I8 so as to hold the drum sections 59 againstrotation.

The strip I0 is then fed forward in the direction of the arrow shown inFig. 4, over the roller I2 between the edging rollers I3 and into thepinch of the feed rollers I4, the strip being carried forwardly betweenthe braking rollers II through the leveling rolls 3I38 between theguiding arms 06 and 61 and the leading end of the strip is fed into therecesses SI of the drum sections 59. l"

At this point the. shaft 50 of the drum is started in the direction ofthe arrow shown in Fig. 4, and as the drum sections 59 are held againstrotation, the rotation of the shaft in this direction will move with itthe cam members 57, the cam lugs 85 thereof, engaging in the concavities64 of the latch members 52 swinging the toothed or serrated ends 53thereof upward to clamp the leading end of the strip against thesurfaces 3| of the drum sections 59, as illustrated in Fig. 4.

At this point the cylinder 80 is operated to release the brake band "I9from the brake drum I8 and the cylinder 24 is operated to swing thebraking rollers I I into the position shown in Fig. 4 so as to place atension upon the strip between said braking rollers and the drum.

As the drum continues to rotate in this direc tion, the strip will becoiled thereon until the entire strip has been formed into a coil asshown in Fig. 5.

During this operation the cylinder I3 may be operated to move the guidearms 56 and 61 out ward toward the position shown in Fig. 5, so as toaccommodate the coil as it increases in diameter.

In order to back spin the coil the shaft 50 is then rotated in aclockwise direction, the loose outer end I24 of the coil is receivedagainst the stop I25 upon one of the spokes of the coil guard and as thecoil is thus rotated in the opposite direction with the outer endthereof held against movement, the back spinning of the coil takesplace, the laminae thereof being separated until the coil is completelyback spun as shown in Fig. .6.

To remove the coil from the drum the cylinder 96 is operated, moving thecradle 89 'on which the coil is seated and with it the stripper plateI26 connected to the cradle which slides the coil longitudinally off ofthe drum.

The cylinder 98 may then be operated to tilt the cradle 89 to the brokenline position in Fig. 4, causing the completed back spun coil, asindicated at C, to roll onto the inclined platform I02 between the sideboards I03 and onto the stop member I04 from which the coil may becharged into the pickling tank indicated generally at I21 in the mannerillustrated and described in detail in the prior patents above referredto.

I claim:

1. A recoiler for coiling a strip of metal and separating theconvolutions of the coil, comprising a bearing, a shaft journaled at oneend in the bearing, a drum mounted upon the shaft for clamping one endof a metal strip, means for rotating the drum in one direction forcoiling the strip thereon, means operated by the rotation of the drum insaid one direction for operating the clamping means, a housingsurrounding the journaled end of the drum and fixed to said bearing, aplurality of radial spokes fixed to the housing and extending outwardfrom the drum, a semi-cylindric guard plate carried by the spokes andspaced outwardly from the drum, means for rotating the. drum in theopposite direction to separate the convolutions of the coil, and ahooked stop at one end of the guard plate for engaging and holding theouter end of the coil from movement when the drum is rotated in saidopposite direction.

2. A recoiler for coiling a strip of metal and separating the laminae ofthe coil, comprising a drum, clamping means upon the drum for clampingone end of a metal strip, a substantially semi-cylindric guard platesurrounding and spaced from the upper side or the drum, means forrotating the drum in one direction for coiling the strip thereon, a stopadjacent to the drum for engaging and holding the outer end of the coilfrom movement, means for rotating the clamping one end of a metal strip,a substantially semi-cylindric guard plate surrounding and spaced fromthe upper side of the drum, means for rotating the drum in one directionfor coiling the strip thereon, a stop adjacent to the drum for engagingand holding the outer end of the coil from movement, means for rotatingthe drum in the opposite direction to separate the laminae, of the coil,a cradle below the drum provided with an arcuate platform having thesame radius and center as the guard plate for receiving the coil whenthe laminae are separated, means for removing the coil from the drum andsimultaneously moving the cradle beyond the drum, and means for tiltingthe cradle V ing the drum in the opposite direction to separate thelaminae of the coil, a cradle below the drum provided with an arcuateplatform having the same radius and center as the guard plate forreceiving the coil when the laminae are separated, a stripper platecarried by the cradle, and means for moving the cradle beyond the drumto remove the coil from the drum and deposit the coil upon the cradle.

5. A recoiler for coiling a strip of metal and separating theconvolutions of the coil comprising a drum, clamping means upon the drumfor clamping one end of a metal strip, means for rotating the drum inone direction for coiling the strip thereon, a pair of guide armsbetween .arms as the coil increases in diameter, said separating meanscomprising meshing gears connected to the pivotal ends of the arms, afluid cylinder and a plunger in the cylinder connected to one arm.

6. A recoiler for coiling a strip of metal and separating the laminae ofthe coil, comprising a drum, clamping means upon the drum for clampingone end of a metal strip, means for rotating the drum in one directionfor coiling the strip thereon, a pair of guide arms between which thestrip is fed to the drum, said guide arms being pivoted on oppositesides of the path of the strip at points spaced from the drum rollersupon the ends of the arms, arranged for contact with the periphery ofthe coil and means for separating said arms as the coil increases indiameter so that the rollers will contact the circumference of the coil,saidseparating means including meshing pinions fixed to the pivoted endsof the arms, a fluid cylinder, and a plunger in the cylinder connectedto one arm.

' AGNES J. REEVES GREER.

